Muslim Persecution of Christians, December 2012

Raymond Ibrahim continues his indispensable, if depressing, catalog of Muslim oppression of Christians during the month of December 2012:

As usual, the month of Christmas saw an uptick in Christian persecution under Islam, in a variety of forms, from insults to murders.

Mass murder figures prominently in these accounts, but the Christmas season reminds us that Islamic supremacism is mainstream, and is by no means limited to Pakistan, Iran, etc.:

[I]n “moderate” Indonesia, the nation’s top Muslim clerical body said that Muslims should not offer Christians greetings such as “Merry Christmas,” and that Muslims are forbidden from attending any Christmas celebrations; in Egypt, the Committee for Rights and Reform issued a similar fatwa, forbidding Muslims to congratulate Christians during Christmas; even in the West, in Australia, the Lakemba Mosque issued a fatwa warning Muslims that it is a “sin” to wish people a Merry Christmas, because Christmas Day is among the “falsehoods that a Muslim should avoid…and therefore, a Muslim is neither allowed to celebrate the Christmas Day nor is he allowed to congratulate them [Christians].”
***Indonesia: More than 200 Muslims threw rotten eggs at Christians for trying to hold a Christmas Mass in empty land outside Jakarta, after their church, the Philadelphia Batak Protestant Church, was illegally closed. According to a photographer, furious Muslims—men and women wearing the Islamic veil, and with small children in tow—physically blocked the road and hurled rotten eggs at the worshippers as they gathered. According to a pastor, “intolerant people” threw not only rotten eggs, but plastic bags filled with urine and cow dung: “Everything…happened while police were there. They were just watching without doing anything to stop them from harming us.” Separately, after a suspicious package found on the premises of a Catholic church in North Sumatra stirred panic among the congregation during Christmas mass, a police bomb-squad neutralized what turned out to be an amateur homemade bomb containing 500 grams of nails.
***Saudi Arabia: Religious police stormed a house in the province of al-Jouf, detaining more than 41 guests for, in the words of the police statement, “plotting to celebrate Christmas.”

Isn’t it great to have such a close ally in Saudi Arabia? Now back to the usual violence:

Nigeria: Christmas was another occasion for Muslims to slaughter church-attending Christians. First, in two separate attacks, Islamic gunmen shot and killed 12 Christian worshippers, including the pastor, who had gathered for Christmas-Eve church services. In the words of a resident: “A group of gunmen came into the village at midnight and went straight to the church … they opened fire on them, killing the pastor and five worshippers. They then set fire to the church.” Six days later, on Sunday December 30, Muslims attacked another church during service, slaughtering 15 more worshippers; several had their throats slit. At least four more churches were torched and 10 Christians murdered when, according to the report, “the Islamic group members went on rampage [sic] and burned 20 houses and a church in the area,” as well as three more churches, all to cries of “Allahu Akbar!” [“Allah is Greater!”]. After the Islamic invaders torched the churches, they used guns and machetes to slaughter their victims.
***Somalia: 55-year-old Mursal Isse Siad, a convert to Christianity in 2000, who was receiving death threats for leaving Islam, was finally gunned down by two Islamic gunmen in front of his house. His wife and children subsequently fled the region. “Siad deserved to die because he was not committed to the Islamic religion,” said one resident.
***Sweden: A Muslim convert to Christianity from Iran who is seeking asylum in Sweden is facing deportation. According to his pastor, “If he is sent back to Iran, the convert, Reza Jebbari, could be imprisoned or even put to death for leaving Islam.” Jebbari’s lawyers are filing another appeal, but “are puzzled” at the government’s apparent determination to deport the Christian convert: “It would seem that we are in a tight spot again and, quite frankly, we’re at a loss as to why the Migration services are so determined to deport [him]. People with weaker cases get permission to stay in Sweden, but not him.” A few months earlier it was reported that Swedish officials were searching for “Maryam”—the Saudi woman who converted to Christianity and fled, eventually to Sweden—to return her to Saudi Arabia to face apostasy charges.
***Sudan: Christians in the Nuba Mountains said they felt abandoned by the world, after Sudanese air forces killed at least another 11 of them in bombings before and after Christmas: “We are surprised why the international community is so silent about the killing in South Kordofan [region of repeated raids]” said one church leader, who requested anonymity.

Christians are murdered by Muslims, and their friends are “surprised why the international community is so silent”? How naive. To my knowledge, American Christians have done nothing whatsoever to express disapproval of their fellow Christians’ persecution, let alone try to do anything about it.